With one of the largest crowds in a couple of seasons at Small Athletic Field on Friday night, the Russ Stoner era made its home debut at William Penn.

However, the game that started with a handshake at midfield between the Bearcats and Lancaster city school rival J.P. McCaskey ended on a negative note with eight minutes to play in the fourth quarter.

Just as McCaskey was approaching the line of scrimmage, players from both sides scampered to the north side of the field. In addition, fans jumped away from the seating area, some into the pressbox, because of gunfire coming from the parking lot at the stadium.

The stadium was placed on lockdown as York City Police converged on the area.

“Everything that we planned to do in these sorts of situations we were able to do," Holmes said. "Our school police did a phenomenal job making sure people were calm and safe.”

The night started with celebration, as Stoner proudly pointed to his team during warmups.

“Look over there, there are 65 kids,” Stoner said. “We put together a great coaching staff. They are being coached every day after every play and they are taking it to heart.”

After the national anthem, both teams took to midfield and shook hands with each coach saying words of encouragement to the other team.

Unfortunately, penalties and turnovers hurt William Penn during the contest. The Bearcats were flagged 13 times for 82 yards, lost two fumbles and threw two interceptions.

The lone bright spot came after a long punt return and McCaskey penalty. Down 19-0 but set up at the Red Tornado 42-yard-line, quarterback Tallian Lehr hit Kahliek Savery on a pass and Savery did the rest, breaking three tackles en route to the end zone.

Still, the night ended on a sad note.

With police still on the scene, escorting people to their cars and manning the crime scene, Holmes reiterated that no William Penn students were involved.

“I don’t know who these people were. They were not students. No students were injured or involved in this,” he said. “They were adults in mid-to-late 20’s and it took place in the parking lot. We have metal detectors here so there were no weapons allowed into facility. Unfortunately, we can’t have metal detectors in parking lot.”